Helping parents to become partners in the education of their handicapped child

Conclusions Educators are beginning to seek methods of improving parent-child relationships and school and parent relationships, as the evidence accrues and is assimilated, which shows how much more important is the child's family experience. The handicapped child brings the desirability of successful home and school links into clear focus, as the six-hour school day is clearly inadequate for the needs of many severely handicapped children, who require a consistent programme of developmental experiences from waking to sleeping. The only way in which the trust and confidence imposed by close relationships in the home may be continued in the school is by a mutual effort directed at common goals: the development of the child's capacity to learn and care for himself. Perhaps it is the similarity of the tasks undertaken in home and in school, with the severely and profoundly handicapped child, the severely and profoundly handicapped child, which has shown just how powerful the home-and-school combination can be when working in harmony. There are clearly lessons here for the education system at large. Perhaps the longstanding schism between parents and schools can be bridged in the next decades.The importance of social abilities, self-help skills and the confidence which all emanate from a successful family life, are emphasized by Smith and Sykes (1981) and others, who show that social competency is perhaps the key factor in determining vocational and post-school success for handicapped students. These competencies and confidence cannot come from school alone. The initiatives alluded to in this article, and described in full in the literature cited, show that schools have come a long way from believing that they alone can cope.Has written a number of studies on the development of education for the visually handicapped.     

Counternarratives of Moroccan parents in Belgium and The Netherlands: answering back to discrimination in education and society

Using ethnographic interviews this study reveals that a great deal of discontent and criticism surfaces when Moroccans who live in Belgium and the Netherlands speak about the education their children receive in these countries. They often see Western schools and society as immoral and racist while they portray themselves as first-class educators. Set against the backdrop of the dominant discourses in these countries as expressed in interviews with teachers, newspaper articles and political discourses, these parents’ utterances are interpreted as counternarratives through which they assert their moral responsibility and lay claim to their dignity in societies where they are too often framed in terms of problems and deficit.     

Higher education financing and the educational aspirations of teenagers and their parents

We study the impact of higher education financing on the academic aspirations of teenagers and their parents. We exploit a reform which introduced a large increase in the tuition fees universities can charge, more generous support for the poorest students and a more redistributive student loan system, and varied across the UK’s constituent countries. Using rare survey data on post compulsory secondary and university education aspirations, we find that teenagers’ aspirations are not responsive to large changes in higher education financing. In contrast, parents adjust their aspirations, resulting in a reduction of the socio-economic aspiration gap for their children.     

Sexuality education for young children: The role of parents

An important component of family life is sexuality education. Being comfortable with one's sexuality is an essential component of individual and family wellness. To this end, parents and teachers who intend to assist in young children's sexuality education must be comfortable and well informed.Nilufer P. Medora is Associate Professor, Department of Home Economics, California State University, Long Beach, CA. Stephan Wilson is Associate Professor, and Director, Center for Kentucky Children and Family Research, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY. 40506.     

Reading aloud: A way for parents to support their children's growth in literacy

Parents can form a vital link to literacy and later school success by encouraging literacy and language modeling in their daily communication with children. This article describes a study in Head Start classrooms in Florida and North Carolina where teachers used a book lending system and high quality books which they shared with children and families. Strategies for teachers to assist parents in providing support for emergent literacy are given. Ways to help families see the importance of their practices and encourage the use of these ideas as part of their daily routines are shared.     

Disability and transition from state education to community life: next steps for parents

In this paper we explore the experiences of mothers of young adults with Down syndrome as their daughters and sons transition from schooling to adult life. These transitions occurred in a society shaped by neo-liberal political reform that commenced in the mid-1980s. The hallmarks of education are now expressed in terms of national achievement standards, aligned with the goals of economic gain, and efficiency in government services. In this climate being called disabled is a bad thing. For the mothers participating in this research, the roles and tasks associated with disability created a map of expectation for themselves and their children. Speaking with authority and reclaiming control so as to undertake their role in the longer term was to be as much a part of the transition from school as were the changes experienced by their daughters and sons. The shortcomings identified through the mothers' narratives signal a need for clarity and cohesion in professional and support processes for their disabled family members. The position is offered that the potential of the secondary school as a place for school-linked service integration and support warrants consideration. Understanding the value and impact of outcomes this model brings for a wide range of vulnerable school leavers would enhance the efforts around individuals such as those whose transition is discussed in this article.     

Remission of depression in parents: links to healthy functioning in their children

This study examined whether improvement in parents' depression was linked with changes in their children's depressive symptoms and functioning. Participants were 223 parents and children ranging in age from 7 to 17 years old (M = 12.13, SD =2.31); 126 parents were in treatment for depression and 97 parents were nondepressed. Children were evaluated 6 times over 2 years. Changes in parents' depressive symptoms predicted changes in children's depressive symptoms over and above the effect of time; children's symptoms significantly predicted parents' symptoms. Trajectories of children's depressive symptoms differed significantly for children of remitted versus nonremitted depressed parents, and these differences were significantly predicted by their parents' level of depression. The relation between parents' and children's depressive symptoms was partially mediated by parental acceptance.     

Higher education for public value: taking the debate beyond New Public Management

Many higher education (HE) system reforms in the past decades have been built on the paradigm of New Public Management (NPM). However, these reforms have not allowed HE to fully take its value for society into account. In recent years a growing call can be heard to orient the HE sector towards more collaboration, a focus on a larger set of socio-economic objectives instead of on performance alone, less pressure, more trust and legitimacy. In this article, it is stated that NPM has not sufficiently enabled the creation of public value (PV) by the HE sector. This article provides (1) insight into the flaws of NPM, (2) an understanding of PV for HE and (3) a new model to study HE reforms built on the concept of PV.     

The involvement of Hong Kong parents in the education of their children: a validation of the Parents' Attributions and Perception Questionnaire

This study describes the validation and interpretation of the Parents' Attributions and Perception Questionnaire (PAPQ) using confirmatory factor analysis and Rasch modelling to report both the construct validity and category structure of the scales in the questionnaire. The PAPQ was developed to reflect the proposal that parents mediate the relationship between their children's social and psychological development, and their academic achievement, within the context of Hong Kong. The questionnaire consists of four subscales that reflect different interactions between parents and their children in relation to their children's academic‐related activities, including a Parental Attributions Scale, Parental Beliefs of Working Memory Scale, Parental Home and School Involvement Scale, and Parental Academic Expectations Scale. These subscales were supplemented by a fifth subscale that describes parents' socio‐economic background. The PAPQ was administered to 215 parents from four schools in Hong Kong. Results showed that the four subscales of the PAPQ are valid and reliable unidimensional measures of constructs related to parental role in the academic achievement of their children, thereby enabling future research to directly test Vygotsky's hypothesis.     

Parental involvement in secondary education schools: the views of parents in Greece

The present study explores Greek parents’ views on parental educational involvement and its impact on adolescent scholastic and social development. Specifically, aspects of parental involvement such as the achieved objectives of current parent–school communication, the psychological climate dominating teacher–parent interactions and parents’ suggestions for improvement of current policies and practices are examined. Four hundred and seventy‐five parents participated in the study. Findings showed that family–school communication is believed to be insufficient in Greece, despite the fact that parents tend to: (1) regard their cooperation with teachers as determinative of adolescent academic and psychosocial development; (2) consider teachers to be friendly and caring; and (3) believe that secondary school provides some opportunities for constructive parental involvement. These paradoxes are discussed and explained as a result of radical changes in current social and educational values, principles and objectives.     

Criminal Parental Responsibility: Blaming parents on the basis of their duty to control versus their duty to morally educate their children

Several states in the United States of America and countries in Europe punish parents when their minor child commits a crime. When parents are being punished for the crimes committed by their children, it should be presumed that parents might be held responsible for the deeds of their children. This article addresses the question whether or not this presumption can be sustained. We argue that parents can be blamed for the crimes of their children, not because they have the duty to control their children as is often maintained, but because they have the duty to assist their child to develop in such a way that s/he becomes a morally competent agent.     

Residential special education for children with severely challenging behaviours: the views of parents

Information was collected, through follow-up interviews with parents, on the impact of residential special education on forty-four children who attended a behaviourally-oriented school for children with severe learning disabilities and severely challenging behaviours. Parents noted significant improvements in self care and communication skills and reductions in challenging behaviour during their stay at the school. The majority also noted positive changes since their child left the school, although one in five parents noted a deterioration in challenging behaviour since placement ended. Postiive change at the school was attributed to behavioural programmes, staffing ratios and skills, consistency and intensity. However, since leaving, positive changes were attributed by parents to maturity. Accounts of parents are used to illustrate the variable patterns of overall change seen in the forty-four children.     

U.S. methods for costing in higher education: taking the technology abroad

Costing, the process by which an organization's costs are determined, is one of the most useful policy-making and management tools available to higher education leaders throughout the world. Yet despite the ongoing demand for analytically derived cost information in higher education, the use of costing for policy and management purposes is only now gaining momentum. This article reports the results of the first known application of U.S. costing methods to an institution of higher learning in Latin America - the Universidad de Monterrey (UDEM), a prestigious independent university in Mexico. This study elucidates differences in direct and indirect instructional costs among the UDEM's seven academic colleges and discerns reasons for variations in these costs. Based on the correlation and regression analyses performed, the student-faculty ratio, the average class size, and the total number of courses (a measure of curricular breadth) were among the major factors creating differences in instructional costs among the seven colleges. An important implication of this study is that potential economies are available if faculty productivity levels are increased. Thus, UDEM could conceivably double the existing average class sizes and student-faculty ratios in several of its colleges without any deterioration in the quality of instruction.